The GB Rowing Team is the high performance arm of British Rowing. Rowing is the nation’s most continuously successful Olympic sport, having won a gold medal in every Olympic Games since 1984, and has won six Paralympic golds since the sport was introduced to the Paralympic Games programme in 2008.

October 6, 2009

Claires Court School BC row from Oxford to Maidenhead

Over the weekend of the 26th and 27th September the boys of Claires Court School Boat Club took on the challenge of rowing from Oxford to Maidenhead in a fleet of 3 coxed quads. Over the two day adventure the boys rowed over 100km followed by the coaching launch and a few intrepid cyclists! They successfully managed to negotiate their way through 21 locks, a first for all of them including the coaches who had only had a lesson in operating powered locks so enjoyed an unexpected workout when they had to manually operate the sluices and gates!

As the temperatures climbed the number of pleasure boats on the river increased, meaning the boys had to queue for locks with much larger boats! This caused much amusement for the other river users as the boys had much needed refreshments thrown at them by the team of parents who "lock hopped" the entire route!

As well as the fantastic achievement of rowing 100km, the boys also managed to raise over £3000 towards the purchase of a new boat.

Despite the many blisters and aching limbs all the boys were so inspired by the adventure that they’ve already asked when they can do it again!

As a club it was our first time attempting such a challenge and we weren’t entirely sure that all the boys would manage to complete the course, especially as we weren’t completing it in relay. It requires a high level of organisation and planning to complete a sponsored row like this but we would highly recommend it as an extremely worthwhile team building and fundraising exercise.